With suspension imminent, Major League Baseball has A-Rod right where they want him (photos)

If the Alex Rodriguez saga were a chess game, MLB would have him in check.

If it were "Let's Make A Deal," A-Rod's only choice would be Door Number 3.

You get the idea. Rodriguez is stuck between a rock and a hard place, at least for someone who worries about his baseball legacy and wants to pass GO five more times and collect $100 million.

Anyway you look at it, this is going to end ugly.

A-Rod's lawyers are telling anyone who will listen that they are focused on the appeal process.

Meanwhile, the buzz is that MLB commissioner Bud Selig is weighing whether to do his best Bowie Kuhn imitation and invoke "the best interests in baseball" power to keep A-Rod away from the game.

He could decide to do that, the New York Daily News is reporting, through a rarely invoked commissioner’s power — “the right to take action against a player to preserve the integrity of the game.”

The Daily News reported Sunday that baseball is “armed with voluminous evidence they believe would warrant lifetime banishment.” A source close to Rodriguez told the paper, however, that he is “sticking to his story” and will not accept a deal.

Rodriguez attorney David Cornwell said as much during an interview with Stephen A. Smith Monday on the Michael Kay Show, ESPN 98.7 FM.

The bottom line? Word is that if Rodriguez doesn't accept a ban for the rest of this season and all of 2014, then MLB would look to ban A-Rod for life.

In the first scenario, A-Rod would probably get to keep $60 million in salary.

According to SI.com, if Selig does go to the wall, "he would be invoking Article XI, Section A1b of MLB’s collective bargaining agreement. He would effectively bypass both the grievance and appeals process and the Joint Drug Agreement, setting up a potential legal collision course among the league, the players’ union and Rodriguez."

According to SI.com, "MLB believes it has gathered enough evidence to potentially go to this extreme. The report highlights Selig, in particular, as adamant that Rodriguez never sees the field again."